Flashback to Week Four of the 2008 NFL Season. The Denver Broncos were 3-0, coming off back-to-back thrilling finishes against the San Diego Chargers and the New Orleans Saints. They were heading to Arrowhead Stadium to face a Kansas City Chiefs team that had yet to win a game, and who the Broncos convincingly swept in 2007.

The Broncos were on top of the world, media darlings, and one of “the” stories of the 2008 NFL season. How did they respond? The Broncos laid an egg, leaving Missouri with an embarassing 19-33 loss.

Now, the Broncos are back on a hot streak a little bit, getting media recognition for their two-game lead in the AFC West, and are staring another match straight in the face that’s just begging to stir up a little overconfidence – a home skirmish against the 2-8 Oakland Raiders.

The fact that, earlier this year, the Broncos pummeled the Raiders 41-14 surely won’t help them stay disciplined.

So the question is: Have the Broncos learned their lesson? Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Spencer Larsen is up for the NFL’s Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Week Award for games played in Week 11 of the NFL season. The Denver Broncos 6th round pick started at both middle linebacker and fullback for the Broncos, as well as appearing in the special teams’ first formation. He led the Broncos to one of the team’s most impressive defensive efforts of the season in their 24-20 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, while tallying seven tackles of his own.

Click here to vote for Spencer!

Also, PFT has the scoop on Pro Bowl voting to date. Among the top 10 in overall votes for any position/conference is our own Jay Cutler, who ranks second in the AFC for quarterbacks behind Brett Favre. While turnovers saw Jay playing some ugly football for a few weeks, he’s still having a career season for the Broncos, primed to break all sorts of franchise records. Go vote for Jay (and other Broncos) for the Pro Bowl here!

Full press release on Spencer Larsen’s nomination after the jump. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Anybody that’s wandered ’round these parts has undoubtedly crossed paths with Mile High Report. MHR and BroncoTalk are like peanut butter and jelly, crackers and cheese, orange and blue. Their main man John – better known as TheSportsGuru – approached me with a brilliant idea to exchange Questions and Answers each week, alternating the interviewer and interviewee each time. To start this new Broncos blogging tradition, I asked John a few questions about the state of our Denver Broncos, the upcoming Oakland Raiders game, and our collective hobby in general.

Be forewarned — this is not for the faint of heart. Only die-hard Broncos fans that bleed orange and blue are equipped to handle what follows. Enjoy!

Overall, what’s your opinion of the Broncos right now? Are they back to being winners, turning the corner past the slump of Weeks 5-9? Or is it still up-and-down, “you never know what you’re going to get” with this club?

TSG – I think it is a little bit of both, though I believe Jay Cutler has finally learned that he needs to take care of the football. What is interesting about all the injuries on defense is that it might have actually made the Broncos a better defense. While some of these guys may not have the sheer talent of their injured counterparts, I think they might be more fundamentally sound. Linebacker might have gained the biggest upgrade in fundamentals with Boss Bailey and Nate Webster going down. Spencer Larsen proved last week that he can get it done with smart, heady play at MLB despite being “slow”. Wesley Woodyard has also been strong for the Broncos and give the team a lot of flexibility with what it can do on defense.

On offense, Cutler has settled down and started to take what the defense is giving. While that has a lot to do with his growth, I think trust plays an important role in it as well. Trust in his defense and trust in his receivers. It also isn’t a coincidence that the return of Tony Scheffler has returned the Broncos to their winning ways. Just having Tony on the field seems to help Jay’s confidence.

What were your impressions of Spencer Larsen at middle linebacker? Is he the present and/or future for this defense?

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Jay Cutler has returned to dominance behind the Broncos o-line. (AP Photo)

It was the first game in Ryan Clady‘s young career where he was – at times – having a bit of difficulty handling his man. That is to say, he wasn’t dominating his opponent and shutting him completely out of the picture like he has his entire career thus far. Give the Falcons credit – John Abraham has been doing that to top-tier tackles all season long. But the rookie, along with right tackle Ryan Harris, still held their ground.

Jay Cutler was only sacked once the entire game, when a jailbreak blitz saw three different Falcon defenders swarm over the Broncos quarterback. Even then, Clady’s man was the third on the scene.

The Broncos moved Cutler around in the pocket, giving the Falcons’ pass rush trouble, as ESPN’s Scouts Inc. discusses in this article:

The Broncos used a sliding pocket in pass protection to make it more difficult for the Falcons to know where the quarterback was. This slowed down the Falcons’ tenacious pass rush and allowed Broncos QB Jay Cutler to throw on the move outside the pocket, which he does very well.

But it wasn’t just the pass protection that helped the Broncos. The return of the run game may have made the biggest difference in the passing game. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

• The NFL likes to flex its schedules, and the Broncos have been moved, from 1pm EST against the Jets in two weeks to 4:15pm EST.  This has “CBS veto” written all over it.  [DenverBroncos.com]
• Broncos don the pads in practice, and the results on the field are obvious.  [Denver Post]
• (I feel like I type this same sentence every week we win for RMN articles). It hasn’t always been pretty, but somehow, the Broncos are getting it done.  [Rocky Mountain News]
• The Broncos might just go a week without adding a running back.  Imagine that.  [DPO]
• Why the turnaround?  Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.  [RMN]
• “Anybody that doubts Mike Shanahan after (Sunday) has to stop blogging to me or face bodily harm.”  Well said, Mark Cooper.  [DB.com]
• The NFL is making a knee-jerk reaction to the Chargers–Steelers last-minute fiasco.  [ProFootballTalk]

Chargers fans. (AP Photo)

The San Diego Chargers are running out of time. I mean, this can’t be, can it? This just simply can’t be! The Denver Broncos are winning the division? What is happening?

It must be the injuries. The Chargers had to put their starting linebacker on Injured Reserve. Their starting. Linebacker. Plus, their starting running back has been obviously hindered by some sort of injury all season. If the Broncos had to go through HALF of the injuries the Chargers did this season, they’d be crumbling for sure.

The Chargers are playing bad. But the Broncos are only one game up. Only one! If you’re only a game up on a bad team, you’re pretty much worse. You’re not going to win the division. Nevermind that that makes absolutely no logical sense whatsoever.

What’s that? They’re two games up, you say?

Oh.

Screw it. Fire Norv!

Peyton Hillis celebrates a touchdown against the Falcons. (Reuters photo)

As much as we all love our quarterback with a rocket arm and our giant wide receiver that leads the league in yards after the catch, the position that will make or break this team’s season can be described in one word: Backup.

This week was a stellar examination of Denver’s depth at the ‘backup position’. It is also a revealing look at Mike Shanahan’s ability to find and sign talent deep into our practice squad.

Let’s take a look at a few backup playmakers from our game against Atlanta…

1. FB/RB Peyton Hillis.
Here is a rookie that was supposed to start behind Michael Pittman at Fullback. However, he’s been asked to carry the rock in a more traditional tailback role and this week he put up 70 all purpose yards. He pushed piles, scored two touchdowns and caught passes like a wide out.

2. LB Jamie Winborn.
Winborn was a special teams player and professional backup until this season. With Boss Bailey often out with injury, Jamie has stepped up and played SO well that he was given the headset communicator for this game! To think that we would be handing an NFL journeyman this level of responsibility is unthinkable unless you have serious faith in your backups. Jamie proved his worth this weekend by posting a team best 8 solo tackles.

3. FB/LB Spencer Larsen.
What can I say… this rookie pulled iron-man duty on Sunday. And he rocked! He played FB in some sets on offense and then finished second behind fellow LB backup Winborn with 6 solo tackles for the defense. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Every week, we’ll keep you updated on the latest playoff movement from within the division and around the AFC. We’ll give you the teams’ overall record, as well as their conference record since it plays a big part in tie-breaking procedures.

First Round Bye
1. Tennessee Titans (10-0, 7-0)
2. Pittsburgh Steelers (7-3, 6-1)

Other division winners
3. New York Jets (7-3, 5-3)
4. Denver Broncos (6-4, 3-4)

Wild Card
5. Indianapolis Colts (6-4, 5-2)
6. Baltimore Ravens (6-4, 6-3)

On the cusp:
Miami Dolphins (6-4, 5-3)
New England Patriots (6-4, 4-4)
Buffalo Bills (5-4, 3-3)
San Diego Chargers (4-6, 4-4)

Notes:
AFC West — The Broncos need to keep their two-game lead in the division for their Week 17 matchup against the Chargers. A one-game lead isn’t enough for the game not to matter. Otherwise, assuming the Broncos are within a game of San Diego in any direction, the winner of that game will win the division. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

• The AP recap of yesterday’s win over the Falcons, with links to GameCenters, stats, etc.  [NFL.com]
• “I was out there to run into people,” says fullback/linebacker Spencer Larsen.  Pretty accurate.  [Denver Post]
• That interception was the first Matt Ryan has thrown at home.  It was also the third for the Broncos all season.  [DPO]
• CB Josh Bell started on Sunday after a fast rise from the practice squad.  [Rocky Mountain News]
• A’s all around for Broncos grades (but a B on special teams?  Are you kidding?).  [DPO]
• Three backs are better than none.  [DPO]
• The Broncos are a perfect 5-0 in close games.  [ESPN]

Three weeks ago, the Broncos were dead in the water. A bye week in which we were supposed to heal up was followed by more injuries. Champ Bailey went out, we lost to a sputtering New England team and a resurgent Miami team that is not the 1-15 disaster that people expected but neither are they considered a really good team.

But then, a week ago, two things happened. One, Eddie Royal sparked a fourth quarter resurgence in the offense and suddenly the high powered offense we thought was lost in week 4 seemed to come back. Two, the defense started playing better against the run. They didn’t play great that game, but they did a passable job and they held the game close enough that the offense was able to get back into the game in the fourth quarter.

Denver’s offense is a strange, off balanced beast. The passing game is absolutely incredible. While the offense was sputtering, a lot of people talked smack about Cutler making poor decisions, about Marshall being too egotistical. Joey Porter talked smack about getting into Marshall’s head. But the Broncos have lacked a solid running game, especially once the injuries really started to mount. Pittman looked like he was going to carry the running game, but it didn’t happen. The offensive line excels in pass protection but has not done nearly as well at creating running lanes to let the cut back runners pull off huge chunks of yardage. Without a serious running game, the passing game is easier to defend. Double coverage on Marshall and tighter coverage on Royal, plenty of safeties over the top and Cutler can be left without options.

Click here to read the rest of this entry »